Monday, March 16, 2009

Macarons, made by K.

K made macarons for the New Year's Eve party. We had quite a few friends over for that occasion, and whereas I was mainly in charge of the savoury dishes, K. had (almost) free hands in deciding which sweet dishes to offer. He had wanted to make macarons for ages, so he decided to go ahead.

I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to start with. Macarons, as we all know (or at least that's the feeling I get when reading bloggers who have made them), are a tricky concoction, to say the least. They sound deceptively simple - icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites - yet there are hundred tricks and insider tips you must know in order to succeed. Also, as you cannot buy ground almonds in Estonia, K. had to grind his own - using our small old coffee grinder - and sieve the meal again and again. Then you had to wait for the egg whites to dry and so on. In the midst of the preparations for a successful New Year's Eve party, our kitchen was a mess - and occupied by him - for much longer than I had ever planned or wanted..

But - his macarons were a success! He made three different types - matcha macarons with dark chocolate ganache, lingonberry macarons (substituting some of the almonds with ground dried lingonberries - that's the Estonian twist) with blackcurrant buttercream a la Pille (aka icing sugar mixed with soft butter and some unsweetened blackcurrant juice), and plain macarons with plain buttercream.

They were beautiful and delicate and very much macaron-like. Loved these!!!

wow - this is seriously impressive! well done, kristijan! i have never, ever ventured ito making my own, but i am inspired. maybe a little one-to-one session is in order - will you???hope you three are all well.

What a guy!! I've been meaning to try those too. Had some on Oahu at Sam Choy's, but heard it's better to make them in dry weather. So, am waiting for that. I have the egg whites as I just made matcha cookies for today.

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